Disconnecting

I had a thought today as I was sitting on the John surfing the Internet on my phone. It also occurred to me while I was surfing the Internet in the veterinarian's office waiting room and again while I was surfing the Internet in the kitchen waiting for my Hamburger Helper to cook. I surf the Internet ALOT.

I've found that my phone is a blessing and a curse. I'm always connected which is great for working mobile. The bad part is... well... I'm always connected. When I went to Spain years ago by myself, I remember sitting in my hotel room surfing the web on my laptop thinking, "WTF am I doing? I'm sitting in a beautiful country by myself and I'm laying here doing what I'd be doing at home!"

My upcoming trip to Canada is going to challenge me in this area again. Once again I'll be alone. Once again, I'll have my laptop. Once again I'll have an Internet connection (mostly). I need to learn how to entertain myself without the Internet. I'm going to be bringing some books with me on my trip. In fact, if I get some extra cash, I might just pony up for a Kindle. It would be a hell of a lot lighter than all those books.

I will still be connected to the degree that I'll be blogging regularly from each destination (hopefully) but after the blogging is over, the computer is getting put away. There may be times that I turn the cell phone off too (I'm gonna get CRAZY!) haha!

My goal with the trip is to connect with nature, connect with myself, connect with my place on the planet, etc. It doesn't mean I'm not going to disconnect from all of you. I just want to make sure I'm not using any part of anything or anyone as a crutch to avoid loneliness. If I feel loneliness or boredom, I want to push through that on my own.

Disconnecting is tougher than it sounds though - for me anyway. I think that's a sign that I've gotten a little too addicted to this stuff. Awareness is the first step, right?